1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerant distributor and particularly to a refrigerant distributor used in an air conditioner in which refrigerant piping of an outdoor heat exchanger is configured with a multiple path.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known an outdoor heat exchanger functioning as an evaporator in which refrigerant piping is constructed in a multiple path configuration when a multi-type air conditioner in which a plurality of indoor units are connected in parallel with a outdoor unit is configured, in order to improve heat exchange efficiency of the outdoor unit during heating (for example, JP-A-7-294061).
In the above prior-art outdoor heat exchanger, a refrigerant distributor for evenly distributing refrigerant to each path is disposed, and there is known the refrigerant distributor in which an orifice disposed on the upstream of a distributing portion in order to prevent drift in the distributing portion and to improve the effective heat exchange efficiency in each path.
In this case, in order to improve working accuracy of the orifice, it can be considered that the orifice is formed separately from a refrigerant distributor main body and incorporated on the upstream side of the distributing portion.
When this orifice is to be incorporated, it is necessary to fix it at a predetermined position by a predetermined fixing member, but depending on the working accuracy or the like, the incorporated orifice might become loose by a flow of the refrigerant, it is likely that a distribution ratio cannot be kept constant and a noise caused by the looseness is generated.